RAILROADS

What will the region’s agricultural railroad service look like in 2040? Will farmers in the Upper Great Plains continue to see trains two and three weeks late in the next 18 months?
These were questions asked but not answered Dec. 8 at the first day of a conference titled Post-Harvest Handling and Transportation for Agriculture Products: Issues and Alternatives. The event is sponsored by North Dakota State University and North Dakota’s two U.S. senators. It concludes Dec. 9.

The Canadian government on Nov. 29 extended the requirement that the country’s two big railways ship a minimum amount of grain per week, but reduced the requisite amount in light of this year’s smaller harvest.

Daniel Elliott, chairman of the Surface Transportation Board, is among the invited speakers scheduled for a conference on “Post-harvest Handling and Transportation for Agricultural Products: Issues and Alternatives” Dec. 8 and 9 at the Ramada Plaza and Suites in Fargo, N.D.
The conference will bring together decision makers from the public sector, railroad industry executives and leaders of commodity groups, according to information from North Dakota State University.

The region’s two Class I railroads — BNSF Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway — are reporting improved status on late cars, and CP has proposed a major merger to bypass an infamous Chicago bottleneck blamed for last winter’s delays.

Grain elevator and agriculture groups are cautiously optimistic that a more extensive reporting system for railroads, ordered Oct. 8 by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, will at least allow agricultural shippers to see whether they’re getting the same kind of service as oil, coal and other industries.

A stockpile of U.S. Midwest grain will likely increase in the coming months and tax farmers already desperate to house or haul corn, soybeans and other products ahead of an expected record harvest, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official said on Wednesday.

The two largest railroads serving farmers are not saying publicly exactly how they’ll respond to a Surface Transportation Board rule that requires new or updated plans to solve grain shipment delays by June 27.

Considering the Dec. 30 train derailment in Casselton, N.D., and our congressional delegation’s call for straightforward regulation to increase railroad safety, I’ve thought a lot about the legacy of railroads in North Dakota.
It is, after all, North Dakota’s 125th anniversary of statehood this year, and so much of our history is tied to the railroads.